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Gareth Johnson
MP for Dartford

Reporting back from Dartford and Westminster - now reaching over 5,000 people in the local area

February 2022

Ukraine

Last week the House of Commons was rightly unified in its determination to impose sanctions against Russia. The sanctions themselves will not cause Putin to withdraw his troops but they will have an impact on Russian finances.

Imposing sanctions is the right thing to do and sends a clear message to Russia that we are against the action that has been taken in Ukraine and Britain can no longer be used as a playground for Putin's supporters.

Those who blame NATO are totally wrong. It is not NATO who the Ukrainians fear, it is not NATO who are the aggressors, it is Putin and his administration.

We must not let the wrongs of Putin set us against the Russian people. We have seen some signs of ordinary Russians opposing this military bullying and that is to be welcomed.

There is no easy solution to the conflict taking place in Ukraine. Any military response, beyond that already provided to assist Ukraine to defend itself, carries huge risks.

However long this takes, Putin’s aggression must not be allowed to succeed.

We have seen plenty of evidence of the rogue nation Russia has become. The invasion of Crimea, the poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko in 2006, the poisonings in Salisbury in 2018 of Sergei and Yulia Skripal and the murder of Dawn Sturgess. These events exemplify the route the Russian administration has taken. Add to that the expulsion of Russia in 2019 from the Olympics due to institutionalised cheating and the only conclusion you can take is that the country has become a rogue nation. Russia regularly ignores international law.

It is therefore not surprising the Russian government is compared to a mafia-style gang with Putin as its mafia boss.

We should have perhaps responded more robustly in the past. It is, however, what we do in the future that now really counts and we will be at loggerheads with Russia for a long time to come.

Whilst we all hope this will not evolve into a wider military war, there will at least be a war of attrition where Russia must be made to realise its aggression was a huge mistake.

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George Low

George Low was a young man from Dartford in the prime of his life when he was viciously and fatally attacked on holiday in Cyprus in 2016. His friend, Ben Barker was also attacked, but survived.

What happened to George is every parent's nightmare and since his death, his family has never stopped hoping that justice would be secured for him. Yet, despite their resolute determination to ensure his killers are caught, they have faced huge political obstacles at every turn.

Since George was murdered, I have tried all avenues to seek justice for him. In 2018, I travelled to Cyprus to meet Government Ministers, senior police officers and the Attorney General in a bid to have those responsible for George’s murder returned to Cyprus and put before the courts. However, because of the complicated political situation in Cyprus, the suspects have been able to evade justice.

Some progress has been made, but the two suspects, Sali Ahmet and Mehmet Akpinar remain at large.

The Low family has remained incredibly dignified throughout this horrendous experience even though they are acutely aware the chances of the suspects being apprehended remain slim.

Over the last few years there has been direct and abusive contact with the families by one of the suspects which Kent Police quickly passed to international authorities. This abuse is disgusting and has just added to their torment.

I recently arranged a further meeting with the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office for the families of George and Ben to seek an update on progress in securing justice and I was able to attend with them. It was apparent there are many barriers to a positive outcome in this case and I know the families appreciated the opportunity to hear directly from police in Cyprus, who have previously been very limited in their engagement. It also gave them the chance to find out what further steps are being taken to progress the investigation and secure the arrest of the suspects, who currently live without fear of being apprehended in Turkey.

Whilst the meeting itself did not bring an arrest any closer, I know Mr and Mrs Low remain determined in their efforts to ensure George’s killers are caught. Their son was at the prime of his life but was butchered in an unprovoked attack in Cyprus whilst he was simply enjoying a holiday. The fact that his killers remain not only free but able to contact them just adds to the pain and suffering they are enduring.

I have been in contact with Martin Brunt from Sky News for some time on behalf of the families and I am delighted that Sky News took the opportunity to highlight this horrendous case. The Sky news story and the video can be viewed above. There is also a link to the article which can be found below.

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Outside the FCDO with Mr and Mrs Low

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National Apprenticeship Week

The 15th annual week-long celebration of apprenticeships took place from 7th-13th February with schools and businesses across Dartford taking part.

The 'Build the Future' theme returned for its second year and over 1,200 events took place across England to showcase the benefits of apprenticeships.

Construction firm, Laing O'Rourke, based in Dartford, held an apprenticeship open day at its Crossways Business HQ and the National Highways' team, delivering the Lower Thames Crossing, took part in events at the Leigh Academy and Ebbsfleet Academy.

Apprenticeships are excellent for people of all ages, offering lifelong skills in their chosen profession. In the year before I was elected to Parliament, 330 people took up an apprenticeship in Dartford. During the past decade, there have been more than double that number until the start of the pandemic. Numbers are now bouncing back and in 2020/21, there were 670 apprenticeship new starters in our town.

As life returns to normal, I hope more and more people take up the opportunity of an apprenticeship.


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Visit to River Mill Primary School

I was delighted to visit River Mill Primary School which is a new school that opened in September 2019 in the centre of Dartford. The school caters for children aged 3-11 and has a nursery on site. There are currently 120 pupils, with a capacity for 420.

It was a pleasure to meet the school's Head Teacher, Suzanne Leader, who gave me a tour of the school buildings and grounds.

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Spring Exhibition of Uplifting Art at Bluewater

Following the success of their first exhibition last autumn, Under the Rainbow Events will be coming back to Bluewater from today to 4th April 2022.

This voluntary, non-profit organisation was founded by Ewa Page, a restaurant manager at Bluewater, who is also an artist. It is dedicated to supporting artists and creatives in Kent through pop-up exhibitions.

Ewa realised during lockdown that many artists had struggled as they had been unable to exhibit their work. She teamed up with fellow artists Allison Ridley and Erika Notarianni and came up with the idea of holding an exhibition. Bluewater offered a free venue and donations and pledges were secured from local businesses and the community.

The latest exhibition will showcase Kent artists' talent within an exhibition including hanging art, sculpture, glass, jewellery, ceramics and textiles.

They are also including several community projects, such as displays of artwork from three local primary schools and two secondary schools, along with some of the work done by prisoners as part of their rehabilitation.

The event will be free to visit and will be open daily 11.00 am to 8.00 pm Monday to Saturday and 11.00 am to 5.00 pm on Sundays.


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The Queen's Platinum Jubilee

Her Majesty the Queen celebrates her Platinum Jubilee this year, with events to mark the occasion taking place over the extended bank holiday from 2nd to 5th June.

To commemorate this, I am organising a competition for Primary School children to enter. It involves the children producing a picture of the Queen, with each school judging its own entries and deciding on two winners. Bluewater has kindly agreed to display the winners' artwork.

I organised similar competitions to mark the Queen's Diamond Jubilee and her 90th Birthday, which many schools took part in. The children produced some fantastic pictures on both occasions and hopefully will do so again to mark this fantastic milestone.

All primary schools in the Dartford constituency have received an invitation to take part.

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60km of new or improved pathways proposed by the Lower Thames Crossing

National Highways has released new artist impressions, maps and animations showing over 60km of new or improved pathways for walkers, cyclists and horse riders, that will be delivered in Kent, Thurrock, Brentwood and Havering as part of the Lower Thames Crossing Project.

In total, the Lower Thames Crossing will deliver almost 3km of pathways for every 1 km of new road.

In Kent, the proposals include:

* Three green bridges; one over the Lower Thames Crossing and two over the existing A2/M2 at Brewers Road and Thong Lane.
* New and extended foot and cycle paths connecting the residential areas of Gravesend, Strood and communities south of the A2, to the parks and woodlands between them.
* A new cycle route south of the A2 running through Jeskyns Community Woodland from Park Pale in the east to Hares Bridge in the west.
* Easy connections to and through Chalk Park; a new landscaped park being proposed, that will offer views over the Thames Estuary.
* A network of bridleways giving horse riders an uninterrupted route between woodlands such as Shorne Woods Country Park, Ashenbank Wood and Jeskyns Community Woodland.
Further information on the proposed pathways can be found on the link below. There are also events to give local communities the chance to see the plans and speak to project staff. The one being held in Kent is on Thursday 3rd March 2022 from 4.00 – 8.00pm at Kent Room, Gravesham Borough Council Civic Centre, Windmill Street, Gravesend DA12 1AU.

The public will also have the opportunity to give feedback on these plans in a new consultation later in the Spring.

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Darent Valley Hospital maternity unit

Following the Care Quality Commission's survey of women's experiences of maternity care in England, Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust was rated the second most improved maternity unit in England and the seventh best maternity unit overall in the country.

The survey received responses from 23,479 women who had a baby in February 2021 and it covers all aspects of maternity provision; antenatal care, care during labour and birth and post-natal care. 122 acute NHS trusts took part.

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Some of the maternity unit team at Darent Valley Hospital

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The Health Secretary recently announced an additional Covid 19 booster jab will be offered from spring to people aged 75 years and over, residents in care homes for older adults, and people aged 12 years and over who are immunosuppressed. This comes after advice from the independent Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI).

Immunity to Covid 19 begins to wane over time and that is why a spring booster is being offered to those people at higher risk of serious Covid 19 to make sure they maintain a high level of protection. It’s important that everyone gets their top-up jabs as soon as they’re eligible.

The JCVI will keep under review whether the booster programme should be extended to further at-risk groups.

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Living with Covid 19

In February, the Government announced its plan for removing the remaining legal restrictions, while protecting people most vulnerable to Covid 19 and maintaining resilience.

The objective is to enable the country to manage Covid 19 like any other respiratory illness, while minimising mortality and retaining the ability to respond if a new variant emerges with more dangerous properties than the Omicron variant, or during periods of waning immunity, that could again threaten to place the NHS under unsustainable pressure.

To meet this objective, the Government will structure its ongoing response around four principles:

1. Living with Covid 19: removing domestic restrictions while encouraging safe behaviours through public health advice, in common with longstanding ways of managing most other respiratory illnesses.
2. Protecting people most vulnerable to Covid 19: vaccination guided by Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) advice, and deploying targeted testing.
3. Maintaining resilience: ongoing surveillance, contingency planning and the ability to reintroduce key capabilities such as mass vaccination and testing in an emergency.
4. Securing innovations and opportunities from the Covid 19 response, including investment in life sciences.
There is no doubt that this is an important moment for the country and for Dartford. People in Dartford did what was asked and it is through this collective effort that we have now been able to lift the remaining Covid 19 restrictions and requirements. The impact that almost two years of restrictions has had on people and businesses is significant and we need to have the confidence to move forward and return to a normal way of life.

I have been contacted by thousands of Dartfordians over the course of the pandemic and there is clearly a wide range of views on the issue. I know that for most, the ending of restrictions will be celebrated but I know there will be some who approach the ending of restrictions with a degree of trepidation, particularly those who are older or immunosuppressed. Covid 19 is now a mild illness for most, but I want to reassure vulnerable people that just because restrictions are ending, treatments for Covid 19 are not. The UK is the first nation in the world to have approved at home oral antivirals and this supports many of the drugs widely used across the NHS to successfully treat Covid-19 patients.

Darent Valley Hospital has coped magnificently during the pandemic and I want to pay tribute to the staff there who have worked tirelessly under the most difficult of circumstances. Over 3,000 Covid patients have been treated at DVH during the course of the pandemic and at one stage the hospital cared for nearly 270 Covid-positive patients a day. The picture there is much more positive and although Covid 19 patients remain in the hospital, the vast majority are unvaccinated. The best thing we can all do as restrictions end is to join over 81,000 other Dartfordians and get vaccinated. The greater risk to the health of the nation no longer comes from Covid 19, but from undiagnosed illness and the backlog of elective treatments for conditions that have a significant impact on quality of life and life expectancy.

We know the pandemic is not over, but the need for Government-mandated restrictions is. We know there is always the possibility there will be a new variant in the future and it is right we are mindful that Covid 19 has not gone away. Just as we did with Omicron, the proposals set out by the Prime Minister allow us to be able to adapt if we need to, but be optimistic about the future.

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The mace in Parliament is the symbol of Royal authority and without it neither House can meet or pass laws.

The House of Commons mace (shown in the photo above) is a silver gilt ornamental club of about five feet in length, dating from the reign of Charles II. On each day that the House is sitting the mace is carried to the Chamber at the head of the Speaker's procession by the Serjeant at Arms. It is placed on the table of the House, except when the House is in committee, when it rests on two brackets underneath the table.

In 2018, Labour MP Lloyd Russell-Moyle, grabbed the mace during a debate on Brexit. He carried the mace towards the door before he was stopped and told to leave the Chamber.

[Gareth Johnson MP website]<[link removed]>


Gareth Johnson MP
House of Commons
London SW1A 0AA
Tel: 0207 219 7047
email: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>


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